S. Echoriath loc. “Encircling Mountains, (lit.) Encircling Fence”

S. Echoriath, loc. “Encircling Mountains, (lit.) Encircling Fence”

The mountains around Gondolin, translated “Encircling Mountains” (S/138). This name is a compound of echor “encircling” (SA/echor) and iath “fence”, hence its literal meaning is “Encircling Fence”.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, these mountains were called G. Heborodin “Encircling Hills” (LT2/166). In the tale “The Wanderings of Húrin” from the late 1950s, Tolkien changed the name to Echoriad (meaning unclear), but Christopher Tolkien retained the earlier but more common form Echoriath in the published version of The Silmarillion (WJ/271, 302 note 27).

References ✧ S/138; SA/echor; SI/Echoriath, Encircling Mountains; UT/40, 54; UTI; WJI/Echoriad

Glosses

Variations

Related

Changes

Elements

echor “outer circle; encircling” ✧ SA/echor
iath “fence” ✧ SA/echor

Element In


G. Heborodin loc. “Encircling Hills”

In the earliest Lost Tales, the mountains around Gondolin, in later writings named Echoriath.

References ✧ LT2/166; LT2A/Heborodin; LT2I

Glosses

Elements

heb “round about, around” ✧ LT2A/Heborodin
orod “mountain” plural ✧ LT1A/Kalormë